Oh~ Snivy~ My Sweetheart~ (Please Keep Reading!!!)

"So you're planning to leave?" Grandmother sat on a cushion, paused her needlework, and looked at the tablet propped up on the table.

On the tablet, Chen Yan sat inside his tent, teasing Glameow, whose bandages had been completely removed, with a stalk of Poké Tail Grass.

At Grandmother's words, Chen Yan stopped what he was doing, looked at the screen, and nodded.

"We've been here for five days, and we haven't found even the slightest sign of Pokémon evolving en masse. Maybe it ended before we arrived, or maybe they changed their destination this year..."

"But either way, it's time to leave. Our journey has to go on."

Chen Yan sounded a little regretful as he added, "It's a shame. A Night of Evolution like this only comes once every ten years."

Hearing the regret in his voice, Grandmother smiled and shook her head. She stuck her needle into the scarf, set it aside, and said:

"Silly boy, how many things in life ever turn out exactly as we wish? Why limit your travels to one place? If we can't see the beautiful sights here, there will be other beautiful sights waiting for us elsewhere."

"Sometimes, searching is better than waiting."

"I understand, Grandmother. I'm just a little disappointed, not sad," Chen Yan said.

"I wanted to let you see this once-in-a-decade sight too. What a shame."

"What I want to see most is you, Gengar, and the others."

"Hehe." Chen Yan grinned.

"When are you leaving?"

"After lunch. We're planning to visit Lake Verity."

"Lake Verity..." Grandmother seemed to recall something and said:

"That's where your grandfather and I got married."

"Huh? Really? You've never told me that before, Grandmother." Chen Yan's eyes instantly lit up with a burning thirst for gossip. Just as he was about to ask for details, Gengar's voice rang out.

"Gengar-"

Gengar slipped into the tent carrying Kakuna. Seeing Grandmother on the screen, Gengar grinned and greeted her.

"Gengar, how have you been? Has he been picking on you?"

Gengar grinned, glanced at Chen Yan, and nodded without hesitation.

"?!!"

"Explain yourself! How have I been picking on you? I bought you snacks and even fed you a Toxic Orb, and you still dare say I've been picking on you?!"

Chen Yan grabbed Gengar's cheeks, and the two launched into a bout of freestyle fighting.

Watching the boy and ghost fighting on the screen, Grandmother sighed. Those two children loved fighting as much as ever.

Grandmother ignored the battling pair and looked at Glameow, who was crouched beside them, watching her curiously. A trace of nostalgia flickered through her narrowed eyes.

"Glameow."

"Meow?"

"Long time no see."

"Meow~"

Glameow politely greeted Grandmother.

"I'll be counting on you to look after Chen Yan from now on. Sorry for the trouble."

Glameow glanced at Chen Yan, who had one hand clutching Gengar's tail and the other pulling at Gengar's cheek, then nodded gently.

"All right, stop fighting," Grandmother called.

Chen Yan and Gengar immediately stopped and sat obediently in front of the phone.

Even while seated, however, Gengar still used that big rear to shove Chen Yan out of frame, letting that round, chubby face fill the entire screen.

I'm Grandmother's only good little baby. Hehe.

Gengar held the phone and kept smiling at Grandmother on the screen.

"Oh, right, Grandmother." Chen Yan brought over his camera and called to her.

"Gengar, turn the camera around first."

Gengar did as asked, pointing the lens at the camera. Chen Yan found the photograph of Ho-Oh and said, "Look, Grandmother. Besides Suicune, I photographed Ho-Oh too."

"Ho-Oh? Let me see." Grandmother looked at the photograph on the camera and smiled. "Well done, Chen Yan."

"Actually, I saw Ho-Oh when I was young too. I just never managed to photograph it."

Hearing that, Chen Yan grinned again. "That's why I took a photograph for you."

After they chatted a while longer, Grandmother yawned and said, "I'm sleepy. I'm going to take a nap. You, Gengar, and the others stay safe on the road."

"Okay. Take care of yourself too, Grandmother."

"Gengar-"

[Wink]

"Meow~"

The call ended, and Chen Yan went to prepare lunch.

Grandmother set the unfinished scarf on the table, stood up, and returned to her room, where she lay down on the bed for a nap.

On her bedside table, a rainbow-colored feather standing in a glass bottle glimmered briefly. But as Grandmother fell asleep, its colors dimmed again until it looked like an ordinary feather.

After lunch, Chen Yan rested for a while, then called Gengar back from swimming in the river.

"Let's pack up and leave," Chen Yan said.

"Gengar?"

Aren't we waiting for that anymore? That evolution thing?

Chen Yan shook his head and smiled. "No. Grandmother's still waiting for us to take more photographs for her."

Gengar nodded, set Kakuna on the ground, then floated back into the tent to pack the backpack.

Chen Yan stood up to take down the tent.

"Snivy."

At the familiar voice, Chen Yan turned and saw a familiar green figure standing in a tree, watching him.

"Snivy?" Chen Yan was a little surprised. Looking up at Snivy in the tree, he asked:

"What are you doing here? Didn't you leave ages ago?"

Snivy stood in the tree, bracing against the trunk, and caught a breath.

"Snivy."

Today... the Night of Evolution.

Snivy had seen Chen Yan getting ready to leave and hurried over.

"The Night of Evolution is tonight?"

Snivy nodded.

"How do you know?"

"Snivy."

I asked around.

Looking at Snivy's earnest face, Chen Yan called out, "Gengar, hold off on packing."

Gengar floated out curiously.

"Gengar?"

Rather than address Gengar's confusion, Chen Yan opened Snivy's Pokédex entry.

[Snivy]

[...]

[Description: Someone once promised to take Snivy to see the sea when he returned. Should Snivy wait? But he loves his Pokémon so much. He can sing, and his songs sound so lovely. He knows what the scenery is like where Snivy was born... He treats his Pokémon so well... What should Snivy do? The laboratory took me in. I have to stay and help them...

Professor Rowan told Snivy that Snivy could go anywhere Snivy wanted. Snivy left, but was afraid to approach him out of the blue, afraid of inconveniencing him, afraid of bothering him. Snivy chose to follow at a distance, passing along information to him and spending days and nights searching the forest without rest for news of the Night of Evolution.

Snivy doesn't want to wait until he returns to go see the sea with him. Snivy wants to accompany him there, to see so many, many seas.

Grandmother said not to bother people without a reason...]

For some reason, Chen Yan's heart tightened.

"So you've been near me this whole time, haven't you?" Chen Yan asked softly, looking at Snivy.

Snivy smiled shyly.

Then that lovely little snake head nodded.

Chen Yan drew a deep breath and opened his arms.

"Snivy, let's go see the sea together... We can collect seashells on the beach, build sandcastles, fish, surf, and watch the sunset..."

"Let's see different seas, and discover all kinds of different waves."

Snivy looked at the man beneath the tree, his arms open wide, and blinked. Then Snivy spread both arms and tipped forward, falling freely.

There was no pain from hitting the ground, because two large, strong hands caught Snivy and drew that little body into a warm embrace.

Snivy heard a voice close by.

"Oh~ Snivy~ My sweetheart~"

"Thank you for all your hard work."

Snivy nuzzled that warm chest, then peacefully closed those eyes and drifted into a sweet sleep.